


Sleep Until the Sun Goes Down

by Natileroxs



Series: Hold Your Horses Now [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Beta Read, Gen, I just love him so much, One Shot, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Sad, Time Travel, dad egbert loves his son, dad egbert needs more love, even if he doesn't understand wtf is going on, he is best parent in all of history, mention of nanna at the start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 00:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15522087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natileroxs/pseuds/Natileroxs
Summary: You look away for a second and your whole world is flipped upside down.Title is from Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men.





	Sleep Until the Sun Goes Down

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't believe this type of story hasn't existed yet in this fandom. Guess I have to write it myself. 
> 
> This will be in a series and I may connect them in a big fic later on. If I get enough ideas. 
> 
> Big thanks to my friend ArcOnyx for beta reading this.

Your son was your life. He always had been. It had been a rough start for you two, with him falling out of the sky, riding a meteor to the ground. He had giggled and held out his small hands to you. You had slid down the side of the crater and taken him into your arms, gazing down at the smoldering rock and corpse of the woman you called ‘Mother’. Sadness had twisted your insides, but you refused to let it capture you. You had a baby to take care of now.  

 

John. That’s what you named him. That’s what you named your beautiful son with his dark hair and bright blue eyes that you’d only just noticed when he finally gazed up at you and smiled for the first time, buck teeth on full display. And everything had suddenly made sense and not at the same time, because this boy, this child who came from space, from a far off land you could only dream of, had your mother’s eyes, and your uncle’s hair and… your smile.

 

Somehow. For a reason you knew not, he was yours. He was your son and you were his father. And although you had never had a father before, or even a father figure, you knew exactly what you had to do. Even though it was a struggle at first, even though you couldn’t quite deal with everything and more than once had broken down once the baby was out of your hands, you had gotten your act together and raised him to be the best little boy you’d ever seen.

 

He was six now. A big boy with a big heart and who loved to bake with you and be with you. And that made you happy.

 

You sit with him, a slightly overcast autumn afternoon. Gold, orange, and red leaves fall from trees outside the window you gaze out as he entertains himself with a stray leaf from when he’d been playing in the yard a little while ago before it had started to spit and you’d instructed him to come inside before it started pouring.

 

It’s staying at a light downpour, not harsh enough to be heard rattling the roof, but not faint enough to let you go outside again. You look away from the window and to your son, who turns his head up and grins at you. You smile back and yawn quietly, letting your eyelids slide shut for a moment.

 

You open your eyes.

 

Something is wrong, you notice it immediately.

 

“Oh no, oh no, oh god no!” The voice breaks your heart, making you freeze as you stare at the boy across from you, who is curled up in his seat, clutching his head and shaking like a leaf.

 

It’s not your son. Your son is gone, replaced with a boy who can’t even look up and doesn’t know where he is. He sounds scared, absolutely terrified, and not aware that the space around him is completely safe and that you wouldn’t harm him in the slightest.

 

“Uh…” You can’t figure out what to say. His head shoots up and his eyes dart about, looking for the source of the noise. He finds you immediately and you lock gazes.

 

You were wrong.

 

This is your son. He is. He has the same bright blue eyes although they are hidden behind thick rectangular glasses. His hair is tucked into a long blue hood but it’s his. His small nose, slightly tan skin and those pointedly sticking out buck teeth. Except he isn’t smiling, like the boy from a few seconds ago was. Like he was supposed to be. He was much taller, his facial features much sharper, thicker eyebrows, very slight stubble on his chin.

 

He was older. Not just physically, but mentally. He had seen things. He wasn’t the same person.

 

“John?” Your voice broke the silence and his face fell from shock to a wobbly smile as tears shook free from his eyes.

 

“D-Dad?” His voice, while deeper, was almost undeniably recognizable. He shakes and looks a little lightheaded. He crawls over and you, while not understanding a damn thing, open your arms wide and let the boy in front of you sink into the hug, sobbing loudly into your button-up shirt, tears soaking the fabric.

 

You don’t speak. Don’t question a thing. Because this boy is your son. And although he is different and you don’t know why, he is yours and you have a feeling you are the one person he wants to see right now.

 

You run your fingers through his hair with one hand and rub slow circles across his back with the other. He clutches tightly to you and shivers, then lets go and rests quietly against your collarbone. When he finally moves, he sits back so he can look you in the eye. His face is filled with such happiness, yet also confusion, and you get the feeling that something is definitely wrong.

 

“John?” You whisper his name, concern creeping into your voice despite your best efforts. He almost starts crying again at the sound but simply shakes his head at the thought.

 

“Dad… how?” He starts to look around now, taking in every little detail of the room you both were in. He frowns as he notices things he must find out of place. He spends a little while staring at the back door before he finally looks at you. “What happened? How are you here?” He bites his lip. “And… when is here?”

 

“Pardon?” You purse your lips ever so slightly.

 

“It… it looks like it did so many years ago. This house. You know. When I was a kid?” John mutters, shuffling back and stands up on his own two feet. He is a little wobbly like he hadn’t walked much in a very long time. He shuffles over to the window and presses his face up against the glass. He then taps it lightly. “Exactly like when I was a kid…” He then spins back to face you. “You’re younger too!”

 

“Younger?” You stare as he runs back over to you. “Son, it is you who has changed.”

 

His face falls.

 

“So this isn’t real…” He sits back down and soon his whole body is laid against the couch. Except his feet, which dangle off the edge so as not to dirty the leather with the bright yellow sneakers he’s wearing. “We didn’t win? This is just a dream?”

 

“This is as real as it can be,” you hum, not quite understanding what he’s going on about.

 

“But the handle, it was in my hands. I opened the door. And then… here…” He rubs his temples and you watch him scrunch up his face as he thinks. “Did… did I dream everything..?” He finally curls up, tucking his knees to his chest and no longer watching where he put his feet. “It’s just, I thought we had won and that’s why you were here but if this is just a dream then you’re not real and you’re still dead and…” Tears fill his eyes and you are immediately alarmed.

 

You go over to him and kneel beside the couch. You run your hands through his hair again.

 

“I’m real, and I am perfectly alive, son.”


End file.
